An Epic Journey

Now that I have had a few weeks to recover from my debilitating jet lag, I figure it's time to do a brief recap of my journey! India was fantastic - as it always is :) The food, the shopping, and of course - my family. We stayed with my mother's family who rearranged their entire lives to accommodate our shopping needs for three weeks.

A worker in my uncle's fields

This "vacation" was both a sprint and a marathon. Many outfits needed to be bought and accessorized, including wedding outfits for Grick and I. It was fun and frustrating but I am happy with the results! I thought I would take this opportunity to give some tips to those who are considering going to India to do their wedding shopping. I had some guidance from my lovely cousin S who did this same trip many years ago :) I wanted to share her thoughts as well as everything that I learned.

• Wedding Outfit
  Get this first! This is by far the most important purchase you need to make and you should do it first, otherwise you may run out of time to get it sewn. Also, go lengha shopping with some semblance of a plan. If you have absolutely no idea of what you want, you will definitely get overwhelmed. Most stores have a huge inventory of stock and you can sit there for hours sifting through the choices - this can be extremely exhausting and confusing. Parameters for budget, colour or style of embroidery will keep you focused and everything will go much smoother and faster. I ended up making my purchase at Frontier Phagwara (associated with Frontier Cloth House in Vancouver). Their entire third floor is full of lenghas, in all different colours, embroideries and budgets. I would suggest this store to everyone - they are like Kleinfelds for lenghas :)
  
  
• Trousseau Shopping
  I did most of my trousseau shopping at one store in Jalandhar: Chhabra Collections. At first I was slightly wary of this: I wanted to shop around and see what else was out there. However, I quickly realized how foolish this would be. Time was of the essence and getting everything done at one store was not only more efficient, but also much more effective. Also, since it is a fixed-price store there is no haggling or negotiating required, which makes for a much less stressful shopping experience. All our shopping was done in fixed-price stores which I liked and appreciated very much!
  
  Shopping at Chhabra turned out to be a fantastic experience! They not only have superb customer service, but have three floors of clothing for all occasions and budgets. Another plus was that my aunt had shopped there before and knew the owners. In India (or anywhere), shopping where you have a connection can help things move smoother, faster, and - at times - cheaper. They would pull things for us of their own accord because they had become familiar with our tastes and style preferences - another benefit of sticking with one store! The fact that they would provide us with cold drinks, tea/coffee and food all day long has absolutely no bearing on my opinion of them :)
  
  
• Tailoring
  This can be the most frustrating part of the shopping process. Spending money on clothes can be a total waste if they are not properly tailored or finished. I cannot stress this enough but find the best tailor that you possibly can! We experimented a bit, until Chhabra recommended Shory Tailors to us. They are located in Naya Bazar: pricier than I expected to pay in India, but do fantastic, detailed, custom work. To ensure that you get your clothes finished in time, drop them off at the tailor as soon as you can and give them fake departure dates. Even with the most trusted tailor, this is a prudent move! Also, you have the option of getting your lengha sewn by your personal tailor. I did not know this and had mine done at Frontier Phagwara, since they include tailoring in the purchase price. It was not the best of experiences. Their tailor ignored my wishes and finished my lengha how he wanted. In the end, they did fix it but it would have been less stressful to go to someone I trusted, the extra cost would have been worth it. My advice - always listen to your instincts!!
  
  
• Accessories
  I am sure that everyone loves shopping for accessories and cannot wait to get started, but I would suggest that you do. This is not something that needs to be tailored or ordered, and can wait until all the time sensitive tasks are complete. Once everything is at the tailor, you should still have the dupattas from the suits and the sari's since they do not require tailoring. I would also suggest that you get your lengha dupatta sewn earlier than the rest of the outfit so that you can finish accessory shopping for that as well. We set aside one day and took everything to the store - where my aunt had a hook-up :) We did everything in batches and completed one outfit at a time - less confusion this way. It was very efficient! Now of course, I am talking about artificial jewellery. If you are in the market for gold, I would give the same advice as the wedding lengha - do it early. They need time to make the pieces!
  
  
• Achkans
  Grick's achkan and my brother's outfit were left to the last couple of days :) Not that they wasn't equally important, but they are easy to purchase and require little time commitment. All you need is the lengha dupatta, to match to a ready-made achkan. We purchased the achkan at a store across the street from Chhabra Collections. Turns out, Chhabra owns the building and we were able to get a discount through this connection! We took the achkan right away to find matching shoes and voila! We were done. Boys are so simple :)

That's it folks! It was an awesome experience :) I loved being back in India, it had been a long time and it was wonderful to see my family again. Also, the power shopping was quite epic! I have never shopped like that here at home and it is an experience that I am unlikely to repeat - especially if Grick has anything to say about it!